


mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood

by silentassassin21



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Anti-Auradon, Anti-Fairy Godmother, Anti-King Adam, Bisexual Li Shang, Bisexual Lonnie, Bisexual Mal, Chad Charming Being an Asshole, F/M, Gay Carlos, Heteronormativity, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Transphobia, Lesbian Elsa (Disney), M/M, MTF Mal, United States of Auradon (Disney) Is Not Perfect, ftm Carlos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-29 23:37:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12095925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silentassassin21/pseuds/silentassassin21
Summary: Lonnie wasn't raised to be a princessCarlos keeps getting detention for stupid thingsMal can't breathe while in Auradon[A plotless piece about the gender roles/heteronormativity of Auradon]





	mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from the song 'Perfect' by P!nk
> 
> TW for mentions of homophobia and transphobia (specifically misgendering)  
> TW for mentions of child abuse

_i. lonnie_

For her entire childhood, Lonnie had grown up with stories of what her mother had done. Every night before bed her father would tuck her in and tell her another wonderful thing her mother did in the war, and as she got older he started to tell her things she did after the war. The things that came after were the part Lonnie had always loved the most.

After the war her mother had become a protector of China, but also spent years of her life fighting for the rights of those who didn't have them. She was the reason that Lonnie wasn't being forced to get married and prepare to have children when she was still a child herself.

The look in her father's eyes was Lonnie's favourite part; he looked so in love with each and every story. His adoration of his wife was so obvious anyone could have seen it. He held her in such high standing and Lonnie had always wanted what they had, to have someone who adored and respected her and would be by her side forever.

But then she went to Auradon Prep and everything changed.

Unlike most of the girls there, Lonnie wasn't a princess. Her parents, despite how famous and amazing they were, weren't royalty. It took only a few days for Lonnie to realise that she had been raised very differently from all the other girls at the school. They all wore pretty dresses and had pink hairclips and looked like they had never played outside a day in their lives.

Most of them thought Lonnie was strange for wanting to climb trees and learn about history and wear pants instead of skirts.

It took years for Lonnie to realise why. Her parents had raised her on stories of a powerful mother who had saved an entire country, and then went on to fight for human rights the rest of her life, all with a husband at her side who was supportive. But these princesses had been raised to play piano and sew and been seen but not heard, all while their fathers ran countries and their mothers sat by his side and looked pretty.

There were a few girls who had been raised somewhat similarly to Lonnie. Crystal had two mum's, both who were powerful sorceress' and ran their country equally; Lillian's mother had spent her entire life working for what she wanted and continued to work even after she had married a prince.

Despite these few friends who had not been raised to do nothing but support men while looking beautiful, Lonnie still constantly felt like an outsider even in her own dorm room. She had been assigned to share a room with Audrey, who wasn't horrible by herself but when she had several princesses crowding their dorm it felt like Lonnie didn't belong and she would go and spend the night with Crystal and Lillian.

Over the years, she had started to change in an attempt to feel less like an outsider. She wore dresses more, but then quickly discovered she preferred skirts; she stopped always tying her hair up and started to let it fall by her face; she practiced her sword work in private, making sure no one would ever find her.

This all seemed for naught when she was fourteen and realised she kind of wanted to kiss girls, too.

She knew that there was nothing wrong with it; her dad was the same way and she had been raised knowing that it didn't matter who you want to kiss as long as you love them.

But she also knew that it wasn't considered normal to most people. She only knew three people who were like her - her dad, Queen Elsa, and Queen Hestia - and she knew the way that many of the students and royals thought of them.

So she ignored it, shoved it deep down so no one other than herself could find it. The only people she told were her parents, who had immediately gathered her in a tight hug, and assured her that it was okay and that she should ignore anyone who said otherwise.

Ignoring was easier said than done, especially when she heard the jokes made about her father by people who were supposedly his friends and snide comments about Crystal's mums when the person knew that Crystal was within earshot.

_ii. carlos_

The Isle was horrible. Carlos knew this; he knew that there was nothing good about a place with an abusive mother and rotten food and nothing resembling safety.

But on the Isle everything was about survival. This meant that no one gave a shit about you or about what you did. Whenever his mother hit him or wouldn't give him food for three days, it was always because she thought he was an incompetent piece of shit. He was never punished for realising he was a boy, or for wearing eyeliner, or for who he decided to kiss in dark alleys.

That wasn't how it was on Auradon. He'd had seven detentions in the few months he had been there and Evie had agreed with him that none were for good reasons.

Detention one: After their first Remedial Goodness 101 class, Fairy Godmother had pulled Carlos aside and told him that he had to stop wearing eyeliner. When he had worn it the next day he had been given a pink detention slip.

Detention two: Chad was being a dick, as usual, but had decided to go beyond the villain kid comments and had purposely called Mal a boy. Carlos hadn't realised he had punched Chad in the nose until the prince was on the floor, clutching his bloody face. Carlos got a stern lecture and detention; Chad didn't even have to apologise.

Detention three: Evie needed a model for a skirt she was making and she had roped Carlos into doing it. One of Snow White's daughter (there were like six of them and Carlos hadn't bothered to learn any of their names) had walked in to ask Evie something but had instead ran out to tell the Fairy Godmother that Carlos was wearing a skirt. Fairy Godmother didn't care that he was only serving as a mannequin.

Detention four: At lunch one day Jay had had his arm around Carlos' shoulders, Carlos pressed into the side of his body. They had both gotten detention for that, and then Jay had gotten another one for cussing at the teacher who had handed out the detention.

Detention five: This time he was actually wearing a skirt. Evie had made him a few after he had indicated he might want some of his own and he had managed to not be caught for weeks. Then one day Chad had barged in to use their 3D printer (again) and Carlos had bribed him into not saying anything. But the idiot had left the door open and a teacher who was walking past saw.

Detention six: He had been in Mal and Evie's room with the door closed after dinner and a teacher had seen him leaving. No matter how many times Carlos swore they were just studying she wouldn't believe him and he had learned how to be more careful about entering and leaving the girls' room.

Detention seven: The nurse had found out he didn't have a dick and had immediately told Fairy Godmother. She had first apologised for all his previous detentions, but then had proceeded to tell him to stop wearing pants, start going by Ella again, and to stop pretending to be a boy.

He had told her to fuck off and she had threatened him by saying he would get "a detention for every day you wake up and decide to be a boy." (Jay and Mal had both gotten three detentions each for trying to beat her up and curse her respectively. Evie had been more subtle and had started to put laxatives in her drinks every opportunity she got)

_iii. mal_

Walking around the Isle again felt like air had been let back into Mal's lungs. She felt comfortable surrounded by the smell of garbage and the sounds of murder in a way she hadn't in Auradon.

Here she knew who she was, and everyone knew who she was. Everyone knew that she had been born Malcolm and they couldn't care less; everyone knew that she was a dangerous fae and they wouldn't dream of suppressing that side of her.

It wasn't like that in Auradon. There she was meant to be the perfect blonde princess who wouldn't dream of using magic and who held hands with boys and nothing more. But she couldn't be that.

She was home. It was a shitty home, she was aware of that, but it was home nonetheless. The only expectations for her here was to be dangerous and unforgiving.

Part of her felt guilty for leaving her friends behind. She knew that they felt similarly about Auradon, but she also knew that their parents were still on the Isle and wouldn't hesitate to kill them if they saw their traitorous children.

Passing through the barrier to go back to Auradon, Ben safe at her side, felt like a part of her was missing. She had her purple hair and dignity back but she was still returning to the place where it was acceptable for Chad to call her a boy if she pissed him off.

But seeing the glass window of her, with her eyes a bright, magical green, gave her a little bit of courage to talk to Ben. Talk to him about herself, about who she really was. So that night she told him everything; she told him about her childhood, her name, the things she had done, and, most importantly, the absolute truth of why she had returned to the Isle.

He had sat silently throughout all of it, listening intently, and then had wiped away the tears she hadn't realised had started falling. He promised he would be a better king than his father and that he would make sure no one would ever be able to misgender her ever again.

And he tried, god did he try.  He had a meeting with the Fairy Godmother letting her know the new rules on clothing, sports, fraternising, everything. The Fairy Godmother obviously didn't like it, her face scrunching up in disgust, but she had begrudgingly agreed. Carlos stopped getting his detentions for being a boy, Lonnie was allowed to play sports, boys didn't have to hunt if they didn't want to.

But Ben couldn't fix everything.

**Author's Note:**

> This kind of just turned into a ramble about the fact that Auradon has v traditional views that suck. There's not really a plot to this, sorry ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Original characters mentioned:  
> \- Queen Hestia (Elsa's wife who has fire powers)  
> \- Crystal (Elsa and Hestia's daughter)  
> \- Lillian (Tiana and Naveen's daughter)
> 
> [Also, I am a cis-female so I obviously don't have first-hand experience of being trans and am open to criticism of my portrayal of trans characters. EDIT: if you're cis please don't comment about this because you're just as unqualified as I am to comment on trans characters portrayal]


End file.
